R.A. Torrey Collection: Torrey, R.A. - What Bible Teaches (about Man): 13 Love to Man

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R.A. Torrey Collection: Torrey, R.A. - What Bible Teaches (about Man): 13 Love to Man



TOPIC: Torrey, R.A. - What Bible Teaches (about Man) (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 13 Love to Man

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Ch 13 Love to Man





I. WHAT IS LOVE? Mat_5:43-47 — "Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hath thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you: That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?" 1Jn_3:14; 1Jn_3:16-17 — "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death .... Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"



Love for another is a desire for and delight in their good. Love is not mere fondness for another nor pleasure in their society. The character of another may be hateful to me, and his society disagreeable, but still a real desire for his welfare is love.



II. THE OBJECTS OF CHRISTIAN LOVE. 1Pe_2:17 — "Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.



Honor the king." Eph_1:15 — "Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints."



First Proposition: We should love the brethren — those born of God, all saints.



While a Christian should love all men, he should and will have a peculiar love for God's children. (Compare to Gal_6:10 — "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.") Mat_19:19 — "Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Mat_22:39 — "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."



Second Proposition: We should love our neighbor.



QUESTION: Who is our neighbor?



ANSWER: Luk_10:29-37 — "But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side, and likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host: and said unto him, Take care of him: and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves: And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." 1Th_3:12 — "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another; and toward all men, even as we do toward you."



Third Proposition: We should love all men. Mat_5:44 "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you."



Fourth Proposition: We should love our enemies.



Enemies are specialized because they are the ones we are least likely to love.



QUESTION: How shall we show our love to our enemies?



ANSWER: The remainder of the verse shows. See also Rom_12:20 — "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Eph_5:24 — "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it."



Fifth Proposition: Husbands should love their wives.



The husband has a special duty of love toward his wife. The feeling that a husband should have no more interest in the welfare of his wife than in that of any other woman is totally unscriptural. While Christ has a love for all men, He has an altogether special and peculiar love for the church, and so the Christian husband should love all, but have an altogether special and peculiar love for his wife. Tit_2:4 "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children."



Sixth Proposition: Wives should love their husbands.



III. HOW SHOULD WE LOVE? 1Co_16:24 "My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen."



First Proposition: We should love in Christ Jesus.



Christ Jesus is the author of our love. It is for His sake that we love. Our special love to the brethren is because of their special relation to Him. Rom_12:9 RV — "Let love be without hypocrisy."



Second Proposition: We should love without hypocrisy.



Much professed love is a mere pretense. Much calling of one another "brother" is the hollowest formalism. Our love should be genuine, unfeigned. 1Jn_3:18 — "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."



Third Proposition: We should not love merely in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth; not in saying, but in doing; not in profession, but in practice. 1Pe_4:8 — "And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves; for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." 1Pe_1:22 RV — "Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently."



Fourth Proposition: We should love from the heart, fervently; or rather, intensely. Php_1:9 — "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment." 1Th_3:12 — "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you."



Fifth Proposition: We should love aboundingly.



No mean, reluctant, or stingy outgoings of love. Mat_19:19 — "Honor thy father and thy mother: and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Rom_13:8-9 — "Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Gal_5:14 "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."



Sixth Proposition: We should love our neighbor as ourself. Joh_13:34 RV — "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Joh_15:12 RV — "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you."



Seventh Proposition: We should love the brethren even as Christ loved us.



QUESTION: How much was that?



ANSWER: Joh_15:13 — "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." 1Jn_3:16 — "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."



IV. HOW LOVE TO MAN IS MANIFESTED. Rom_13:10 — "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."



First Proposition: Love is manifested when we abstain from everything that would injure another. "Love worketh no ill." There is much here for reflection. The applications are countless. Gal_6:10 — "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith."



Second Proposition: Love is manifested in doing good as we have opportunity.



It is not merely negative (abstaining from doing injury), it is also positive, doing positive good. Gal_5:13 RV — "For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another."



Third Proposition: Love is manifested by becoming a servant to others.



This is illustrated in Jesus Christ. Joh_13:1-5 — "Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that the hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; he riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded." Php_2:4-7 — "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."



The man who wishes to be served but will not serve does not love. Love seeks lowly places of service. 1Co_10:24 RV — "Let no man seek his own, but each his neighbour's good."



Fourth Proposition: Love is manifested when we seek not our own, but rather our neighbor's good. Php_2:4 RV — "Not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others."



Fifth Proposition: Love is manifested in our not looking to our own things, but rather to the things of others.



We are not to be concerned about our glory and honor, but the honor of others. (See the context in verses 5-8.) Gal_6:2 — "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."



Sixth Proposition: Love is manifested by our bearing one another's burdens. Rom_15:1-3 RV — "Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying. For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me."



Seventh Proposition: Love is manifested (a) by our bearing the infirmities of the weak; (b ) in not pleasing ourselves; and (c) in pleasing others to edify them.



Christ is the great example here also. 2Co_2:7-8 — "So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow."



Eighth Proposition: Love is manifested when we forgive and comfort the wayward.



In this particular instance, the man had gone deeply into the vilest sin. Gal_6:1 RV — "Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in an), trespass, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted."



Ninth Proposition: Love is manifested when, in a spirit of meekness, we restore the one overtaken in any trespass. 1Th_5:14 RV — "And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward all." (Note context.)



Tenth Proposition: Love is manifested by (a) admonishing the disorderly, (b ) encouraging the faint-hearted, (c) supporting the weak, and (d) being longsuffering toward all. Rom_14:15; Rom_14:21 RV — "For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died .... It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth."



Eleventh Proposition: Love is manifested when we avoid what causes a brother to stumble. Rom_14:19 — "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."



Twelfth Proposition: Love is manifested when we pursue the things that make peace and things whereby we may edify another. Rom_12:15 — "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep."



Thirteenth Proposition: Love is manifested when we rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Luk_6:35 — "But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." (Compare to RV: "But love your enemies, and do them good, and lend, never despairing; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High: for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.") Fourteenth Proposition: Love is manifested when we lend, never despairing (or despairing of no man).



Lend and keep on lending, hoping against hope. Eph_4:2 — "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love."



Fifteenth Proposition: Love is manifested in forbearing one another — in suffering wrong and ill without vengefulness and retaliation, or overcoming evil with good. Eph_4:32 RV — "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you."



Sixteenth Proposition: Love is manifested when we: (a) are kind, (b) are tenderhearted, and (c) forgive one another as God in Christ forgave us. 2Co_8:24 "Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf." (See context.) 1Jn_3:17 — "But whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"



Seventeenth Proposition: Love is manifested when we give of our means to meet another's need. Rom_12:10 — "Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another."



Eighteenth Proposition: Love is manifested (a) in being kindly affectionate one toward another; (b ) in seeking the higher place for someone else, the lower place for oneself.



It is easy to do this in little conventionalities, say, in the matter of passing through a door first; but do we do it in the important affairs of life? 1Co_13:4-7 RV — "Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."



Nineteenth Proposition: Love is manifested when we suffer long; are kind; envy not; do not vaunt ourselves; are not puffed up; do not behaving unseemly; do not seek our own; are not provoked; do not take account of evil; do not rejoice in unrighteousness; rejoice with the truth; bear all things; believe all things; hope all things; and endure all things. Lev_19:17 — "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him." Pro_27:5 — "Open rebuke is better than secret love." Eph_5:11 — "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."



Twentieth Proposition: Love is manifested to those who do wrong when we rebuke them.



QUESTION: How are we to rebuke them?



ANSWER: Mat_18:15-17 — "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." Personal wrong, first privately, then before one or two witnesses, then before the church. Timothy 5:20 RV — "Them that sin reprove in the sight of all. (This public reproof is by an elder.) Tit_1:12-13 RV — "One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons. This testimony is true. For which cause reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith." Sharply, when necessary. Mat_5:44 RV — "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you."



Twenty-first Proposition: Love for others is manifested when we pray for them. There is no other way we can do more for them. 1Jn_5:2 RV — "Hereby we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and do his commandments.



Twenty-second Proposition: Love for the children of God is manifested when we love God Himself and do His commandments. Joh_15:13 — "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 1Jn_3:16 RV — "Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.



Twenty-third Proposition: Love to the brethren is manifested when we lay down our lives for them.



The manifestations of love specifically and definitely mentioned in the Bible are very numerous. As one goes over them he begins to see how love covers every duty to every class of men, and how true it is, as Paul says, that "love is the fulfillment of the law" ( Rom_13:10 RV).



V. THE IMPORTANCE OF LOVE TO MAN. 1Co_13:1-3 — "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing."



First Proposition: Love is absolutely indispensable.



Eloquence, the gift of prophecy, knowledge, faith, sacrifice of possessions, and martyrdom are of no value if love is lacking. 1Co_13:13 RV — "But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love."



Second Proposition: Love is greater than faith and hope. 1Co_13:8 RV — "Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away."



Third Proposition: Love never fails. Rom_13:8; Rom_13:10 RV — "Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled the law .... Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: love therefore is the fulfillment of the law."



Fourth Proposition: Love is the fulfillment of the law; all individual precepts are but applications of this law. (Compare to 1Ti_1:5 — "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." Joh_15:17 — "These things I command you, that ye love one another.") 1Jn_3:23, l l — "And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment .... For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." Joh_13:34 "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."



Fifth Proposition: Love to one another is the sum of God's commandment, the original and fundamental message of Christianity, Christ's new and all-inclusive commandment. Jas_2:8 — "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well."



Sixth Proposition: Love is the royal law. Col_3:14 RV — "And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness."



Seventh Proposition: Love is the bond that unites all the virtues together into a perfect whole.



Note the figure used in the context, verses 12:13 — "Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye." Joh_13:35 — "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."



Eighth Proposition: Love is the supreme and decisive test of discipleship. 1Jn_4:8 — "He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love."



Ninth Proposition: Love is the supreme and decisive test of our knowing God; love is the one divine thing. 1Jn_4:7 — "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God, and ever one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." 3:10 — "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."



Tenth Proposition: Love is the supreme test of our being born of God, and being children of God.



Compare to Eph_5:1-2 — "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour." 1Jn_3:14 RV — "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death."



Eleventh Proposition: Love is the supreme test of our having passed out of death into life. 1Jn_4:12; 1Jn_4:16 — -"No man hath beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us:... And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him."



Twelfth Proposition: Love is the supreme test of our abiding in God and God abiding in us. 1Jn_4:20 — "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, can not love God whom he hath not seen."



Thirteenth Proposition: Love to brethren is the supreme test of love to God. 1Pe_4:8 RV — "Above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins."



Fourteenth Proposition: Love is the one thing above all things that we are to seek.



Paul, John,James, Peter, and Jesus proclaim love's supremacy in one voice.



VI. THE BLESSINGS THAT RESULT FROM LOVE TO MEN. 1Pe_4:8 — "Above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins."



First Proposition: Love covers a multitude of sins. 1Co_8:1 RV — "Now concerning things sacrificed to idols:



We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth."



Second Proposition: Love builds up. Col_2:2 — "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ."



Third Proposition: Love knits together. 1Jn_2:10 — "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him."



Fourth Proposition: He who loves his brother abides in the light and does not stumble. 1Jn_3:22-23 — "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment.



Fifth Proposition: Love to brethren gives prevailing power to prayer.



VII. HOW LOVE TO MEN IS OBTAINED. 1Jn_4:7 — "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God."



First Proposition: Love is of God, and to love we must be born of God. 1Jn_4:19 RV — "We love because he first loved us."



Second Proposition: We love because God first loved us.



His love to us awakens love in us: first to Him and then to man. If we would learn to love, we must believe in and meditate on His love to us. Gal_5:6 — "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love."



Third Proposition: Faith works by love. Love is the outcome of faith. (Compare to 1Jn_3:23.)



Love is greater than faith, but faith is the root, of which love is the fruit. To say "it is better to have love even without faith than it is to have faith without love," is much like saying it is better to have a crop of apples without having roots to your apple trees than it is to have roots without apples. Rootless trees do not bear fruit and faithless lives do not bring forth love. Gal_5:22 — "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith." Rom_5:5 — "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."



Fourth Proposition: Love is the fruit of the Spirit.



If you wish love, let the Spirit work in your heart and bear His fruit in your life. You will never attain love by any mere effort of your own. Love is not a fruit that is native to the soil of the human heart. 1Co_14:1, RV — "Follow after love; yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy." 1Ti_6:11 — "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." 2Ti_2:22 RV — "But flee youthful lusts, and follow after' righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."



Fifth Proposition: We should pursue love.



While love is the Holy Spirit's work, it should be the object of our desire and pursuit. Heb_10:24. "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works."



Sixth Proposition: We should spur on one another to love. 1Th_4:9 — "But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another."



Seventh Proposition: God teaches us to love one another. Php_1:9 — "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment."



Eighth Proposition: God imparts increasing love in answer to prayer. Gal_2:20 — "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now life in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.



Ninth Proposition: If you would learn to love, let Christ in to live His life in your heart.



Renounce self; renounce the flesh; crucify it, put it in the place of the curse, and let Christ live his life in you.